Tezos Tallinn-Upgrade: On the way to faster blockchain transactions

The blockchain technology faces a fundamental challenge: how can networks become faster and more efficient without compromising their security? The Tezos network answers this question with the recent Tallinn upgrade, a protocol update that significantly enhances the performance of the Layer-1 PoS blockchain and enables a new generation of transaction speeds. As the 20th protocol iteration in Tezos history, the Tallinn upgrade marks an important turning point for optimizing network effectiveness.

Block times shortened to six seconds – The core goal of the Tallinn improvement

The key feature of the Tallinn upgrade is the drastic reduction of block times on the base layer from previous values to now six seconds. This shortening not only results in faster transactions but also reduces latency and improves network finality – a crucial advantage for applications that rely on instant confirmation.

The implementation of this acceleration is based on an elegant technical solution: all network validators, known in the Tezos ecosystem as “Bakers,” can now attest to every block instead of confirming only a fraction as in previous versions. This change significantly reduces network load and lays the foundation for even faster future iterations.

BLS signatures and address indexing: Technical innovations for higher efficiency

The technical basis of these optimizations rests on two pillars: BLS cryptographic signatures aggregate numerous individual signatures into a single one per block, minimizing node processing load. Additionally, the Tallinn upgrade features an address indexing mechanism that eliminates redundant data structures and improves storage requirements by a factor of 100 – a significant advancement for developers operating decentralized applications on Tezos.

This dual optimization addresses two classic blockchain problems simultaneously: throughput speed and storage efficiency. As a result, the network becomes not only faster but also more accessible for node operators with limited resources.

From Bitcoin to Solana: Different paths to blockchain scaling

To fully appreciate the significance of the Tallinn upgrade, it’s worth looking at the historical development: Bitcoin processes about seven transactions per second (TPS), while Ethereum handles 15 to 30 TPS in the same period. Bitcoin produces a new block every ten minutes – a frequency that is impractical for everyday payments and commercial transactions on the base layer.

These limitations led to the development of different scaling strategies: Bitcoin relies on the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 system that enables off-chain transactions between parties and only publishes the net balance on the main layer when the payment channel is closed. Ethereum, on the other hand, pursues a modular approach with a differentiated ecosystem of Layer-2 networks that split execution, consensus, and data availability into separate layers.

Monolithic blockchains like Solana choose an opposite path: they integrate all functions into a single layer and forego Layer-2 solutions. The Tezos Tallinn upgrade represents another approach within this landscape – an optimization of the base layer itself to achieve speed and efficiency directly at the protocol level. In doing so, the Tallinn system actively contributes to the ongoing efforts of the blockchain industry to create faster and more powerful networks capable of supporting an expanding variety of use cases.